Meditation is Easy and Takes Only 10 Minutes

The Benefits of Mediation

The key benefits of meditation and mindfulness, are that they induce a heightened state of awareness and focused attention. Indeed, various studies demonstrate regular practice can help relieve stress, as well as manage anxiety, improve memory and concentration, and reduce inflammation in the body.

For example, meditating for 10-20 minutes once or twice a day will enable your mind to calm by decreasing the activity in the prefrontal cortex and the posterior cingulate cortex of the brain.  These areas are critical to making complex and socially mindful decisions, enabling you to focus on the task at hand.  Overloading the brain by continually putting the brain under pressure leads to brain fog and poor cognitive capability.

Improve Your Level of Concentration and Relaxation

In fact, the more practiced you become at meditation, the better your brain will be at self-regulation.  You will consume less energy at rest, enabling you to reduce that feeling of anxiousness.  This enables you to easily and quickly get yourself into a relaxed state, and improve the quality of sleep at night.  As a result, you’ll begin to see improvements in only 2-4 weeks of daily practice.

Different Types of Meditation 

Without a doubt, there are a number of ways you can meditate including visualisation, where you might use a memory of a happy place.   Guided meditation is where you listen to a recording or use a mantra as in transcendental meditation.   Of course, you can also use movement to induce relaxation through yoga, and mindfulness.

How to Get Started?

In order to get started, the simplest thing to do is to find a quiet space in your house or garden, where you won’t get disturbed.  If you travel around, then you could park up and sit in your car.   

With this in mind, sit upright with your feet flat on the floor.  Aim to keep your chin in a comfortable position by very slightly lowering it.  Place your hands, palm upwards in your lap without your hands touching.  Close your eyes and calm your mind by focusing on your breathing.

Using Breath to Relax

In this case, start by inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth.  When you have your breathing under control and the in-breath and out-breath are of the same length, change the out-breath to also come out via your nose.    Gently quieten your mind by focusing on your breathing.  If thoughts come into your mind, then quietly say ‘shush’ and imagine your thoughts floating away.   Don’t worry about the time.  When you feel you’ve calmed yourself and you’re ready to come out of your meditation, gently open your eyes.  Simply aim to practice every day, and soon you will be able to achieve 10 minutes or more.